The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand
by Stephanie M. A
Summary: In a ploy to take advantage of Rogue and her new powers, Magneto opens up Rogue’s soul for all the X-Men to see. The thing is that Rogue’s soul has been holding feelings that her mind had shut out completely. ROGAN!
1. The Powers

**The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand**

**Summary: In a ploy to take advantage of Rogue and her new powers, Magneto opens up Rogue's soul for all the X-Men to see. The thing is that Rogue's soul has been holding feelings that her mind had shut out completely. ROGAN!**

**A/N: Disregard anything after X1. You need to know that after Logan left in the end of X1, he returned to the mansion aware of Stryker and the experiments that gave Logan claws. Logan knows about the government, but he did NOT get his memories back. This story occurs after Logan's return to the mansion.**

**This chapter is mostly showing background about Rogue's new powers. The story will go into present time mode in the next chapter.**

**CHAPTER 1**

**2 months after Logan discovered his past in Alkali Lake,** Marie fell out of the Black Bird when missiles were fired at it and her seatbelt was yet to be safely secured. She plummeted a thousand feet in the air with one thought. _Oh fuck! I'm gonna die!_ She finally hit the ground after free falling for about two minutes. She opened her clenched eyes that were sealed before the impact occurred, to realize not only was she alive, but she felt…fine. She moved to sit up from the position of laying on her back, noticing she was sitting in a crater, a crater she had made upon impact.

No human could have survived that fall. Luckily, Marie was not human, she was a mutant. However, up until that fall, the only mutant power that she had ever exhibited was her poisonous, power-sucking skin. Marie shook off her confusion as she reached for the X-Phone that remained unharmed in the front pocket of her jeans. She instinctively dialed Logan's number. The same Logan that, just moments ago, had been in jet screaming her name as she flew out the back.

Logan answered with a confused, surprised, and relieved voice. "Marie?" he asked softly.

Marie did not know what to say, she managed to choke out, "Um…Can you guys turn around and pick me up?" Logan had never been so happy to hear her voice, yet still so shaken from the events- not that the Wolverine would ever show his unease.

"We're tracing the phone to locate you. We'll be there in a few seconds. What happened? I…I thought you were…gone." Marie could the anguish in his voice.

She decided to be one hundred percent truthful with the craziness she just experienced. "Well, it seems that I fell a thousand feet in the air landing on the ground with the impact great enough to surround me in a small crater. Somehow, not only am I alive, but there was no pain. I've seen some serious weirdness before, but this one is definitely going up in my top three." By the time she finished, the jet was landed in front of her. She saw Logan run out of the jet, phone in hand, to meet her. The two flipped their phones shut.

Logan warmly embraced Marie, careful to not their skin. Her head lay firmly on his chest, while his chin rested on her head. He whispered in her hair, "I'm glad to have ya' back, kid."

Marie smiled up at him. "Oh, Logan, you know that you can't get rid of me that easily." He chuckled in response. Marie continued easing the tension. "Now, let's get back to the mansion so we can find out what the hell is wrong with me." She ended her quips with a smirk, exiting the embrace and heading up the ramp of the jet.

Logan trailed behind her with a wolfish smile saying, "Sure thing, kid. Sure thing."

**3 Months Later**

Marie was in the training gym with the other junior X-Men practicing fighting skills with their new self-defense teacher Logan. All of the students were paired off for a bit of sparring. Marie was with her boyfriend Bobby, enjoying the chance to beat up on him a little bit especially because he never showed up the night before to meet her at their arranged time in the rec room. She wasn't too sore at him considering it was an honest mistake, but that wasn't going to keep her from having a little fun, was it?

While sparring with Bobby, Marie went to make her next move. That move being a simple sidekick to his chest. She intended to use only moderate strength that would barely hurt him; it would just leave a sting or a little bruise if anything- just like all of the other times they've sparred together. Unfortunately, when Marie kicked Bobby, Bobby flew to the other side of the room and into the wall, leaving a big, Bobby-shaped dent.

Marie audibly gasped as she ran towards Bobby's crumpled form. "Oh my God, Bobby. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to kick so hard. Are you alright?" Marie lent out a hand to help Bobby get back on his feet. He obliged and stood next to her, feeling the pain of the kick seep beneath his now sore muscles.

Through labored breathing he asked, "Is this because I stood you up last night?" He smiled while asking the question to show he was only teasing.

Marie chuckled at the question and teased him in return, "Well, now that you mentioned it..."

The two shared a laugh as Logan walked up to them and the other junior X-Men began gathering around the pair. Logan saw the whole scene. Though he found that the sight of Marie kicking Bobby across the room and into a wall to be quite amusing, he was curious as to how it was possible.

Logan got straight to the questions; ignoring any pain that Bobby was in. "Marie, what just happened?" Inquiring eyes were all on Marie.

Again, Marie decided to be one hundred percent honest. "I kicked Bobby across the room and into a wall using some magical, unexplained strength that I was not aware that I had." She turned to Logan knowing this would be similar to the time a few months back when she learned that she had acquired very thick skin, which made her nearly invincible. "Can you have someone walk Bobby down to the med lab? I have to go see the professor to find out what the hell is wrong with me this time." She released an exasperated sigh.

Logan just smirked at her saying, "Sure thing, kid. Sure thing."

**4 Months Later**

Marie slept in bed, her dreams running rampant.

_Marie was searching through the corridors for Logan. She needed his advice on her guy trouble with Bobby. And since Logan was a guy, he could probably help. Marie made it to the door of his sleeping quarters. She raised her fist to knock on the door, but never got that far._

_Before she could knock, she heard, "Come on in, Marie. It's unlocked." The response was somewhat muffled by the barrier of the door and the sound of a shower running. Marie was slightly stunned at first at his words before she remembered the enhanced senses._

_Then, Marie entered the room closing the door behind her. She noticed the bathroom door was half-way open and the sounds of the shower had abruptly stopped. Marie gasped in surprise as Logan opened the door fully and walked towards her. He was sopping wet and bore only a white bath towel around his waist. "Hey, Marie. What's up?" The words were spoken in a casual tone._

_Throughout this, Marie was mesmerized by a single bead of water that dripped down his neck, to then slide over his hard chest, and travel down his toned six pack abs. The water then went further south to a place that was, sadly, not in Marie's view. When she finally remembered how to speak again, she managed a strained. "Uh…um hey…?"_

_Logan looked at her expectantly, "Was there something you needed from me specifically?"_

_Oh yeah, there was a reason she went there. "Right, silly me. Well, Bobby's been all distant lately and since you're a guy, I figured I could probably get some advice on what-?"_

_Marie was cut off by Logan's abrupt answer. "Dump Popsicle Boy."_

_That was definitely not the advice she was looking for. A frown of confusion formed on her creamy face. "Wha-What?"_

_Logan inched closer towards Marie, his feral eyes filled with lust. With each step he took, his towel slipped further and further down until- YUP! There it was, the Wolverine in all his glory. Marie could not for the life of her, tear her gaze away. Logan grabbed Marie by her upper arms, forcing her to look at him. He held her gaze as he huskily said, "Dump him and take what you really want, take me."_

_Completely thrown through a loop, Marie weakly responded, "You-You dropped your…towel." Logan chuckled at the timid response. He then pushed her up against the nearest wall, pulling away at her clothing. Marie then felt the raw desire course through her veins. Logan was right- she did want him, and now she was going to take him. The two entered a fiery kiss filled with passion and pent up desires that have been hidden for too long. Their hands were exploring each others' bodies with urgency until…_

Marie's eye flew open, awakening her from her dream. It was then that she realized she was looking down at her bed. But what startled her was the fact that her bed was a good five feet below her. With a girly scream of surprise, "AHHHHHHHH," she plummeted down onto the bed quickly. Unfortunately, the fall was not over yet because she was immediately bounced off the bed and onto the hard floors of her dorm room.

Logan was on his way to Marie's room so they could walk to breakfast together when he heard her scream. The scream sent him into protective mode. He ran the rest of the short distance to her room, opening to door without knocking to see Marie on the floor looking surprised, scared, and most of all confused.

Marie was searching around her room with her eyes as if searching for a tangible answer to what had just happened. She never even noticed Logan's appearance until he began to voice his concerns. "You alright, kid?"

Marie quickly jerked her head in his direction. "I-I'm so…confused. How…?" She was at a loss of words.

Logan went to help her off the floor, and sat down on her bad, gesturing for her to do the same. She obliged and he spoke, "Alright, darlin', since I am jus' so amazin' with advice, I might be able to help you figure out whatever it is that has you so confused. Walk me through it. What happened?"

She seemed to have calmed down a bit more as she went to explain. "All I remember is that I woke up and then saw that my bed was _beneath_ me."

A small chortle sounded from Logan. "Well, usually the bed does tend to be underneath the sleeping person. Now, if the bed was above you, I would consider that a cause for concern."

Marie glared at him. "I'm sorry, but I do believe that I ordered my advice without the side of sass." She gave him and pointed look causing him to back off, but with a smirk still firmly in place on his lips as she continued. "I was staring down at my bed that must have been at least five feet beneath me. I was floating, Logan. Once I realized that I was in the air, I screamed and lost any control I had to keep me up in the air as I crashed down to my bed in a heap and then bounced off my bed and onto the floor." She paused for a moment to draw in a deep breath. "Logan, why am I so weird?"

Logan smirked at her. "Because I wouldn't have you any other way." The two friends shared a smile.

Rogue stood up. "I guess I better see the professor _again. _Wanna come with?"

Whilst leading her out the door, Logan muttered, "Sure thing, kid. Sure thing."

After informing the professor of her newly acquired ability, Jean ran some tests to prove that a new mutation had flared up. Now, Marie found herself in a training room with the professor trying to get a hold on her ability to float. The practice had proven to be so far useless because Marie could not manage floating again. She had no clue as to how she did it the first time, so how was she expected to do it again?

Marie huffed with frustration, "I'm telling you, professor, I do not know how I was floating before and we've now tried everything aside from me sprinkling fairy dust on my head and thinking happy thoughts." Professor Xavier laughed lightly at her idea, clearly amused at the proposal.

The door suddenly opened to see Ororo Munroe walking towards the two. "Hey, Professor. Mind giving us girls some room to practice in here, I think I know what can help Rogue float again?"

The professor smiled warmly at the two before departing with a simple, "Good luck."

As soon as the professor was out of earshot Ororo turned to Marie. "You need to find your trigger."

Marie looked hesitant. "My trigger?"

Ororo nodded her head. "Yeah, your trigger. Like what gives you the desire to float in the first place. Floating is just the first step in flying, and being as I can fly, I know that there is always a trigger. So the question is what were you doing right before the floating?"

Marie now understood the logic and she replied, "I was asleep and I was probably dreaming, but I don't remember the dream. I only ever remember some of my dreams."

"Of the dreams that you do remember, what are they usually about?" Ororo was curious as to whether or not their triggers were similar.

"Sex, obviously. I mean, I'm a seventeen year old virgin who can't touch anyone without making them die, but in my sleep…I can touch people all I want." Marie smiled reminiscing in her mind over some past sultry dreams of hers.

Ororo smiled knowingly. "I think I know what will get you airborne." With that Ororo grabbed onto Marie's gloved hand and the two made their way out of the training room, down the hall, and into weight room.

In the weight room, two hot, sweaty, and shirtless senior X-Men were lifting weights. Logan and Scott. Marie stood by Ororo's side, mesmerized by each time that their naked muscles flexed. She was finally brought out of her fixation with their shirtless bodies by Logan's voice, "I see that you sorted out the whole floating thing."

Marie frowned with confusion before looking down to see that her feet were no longer on the ground. She was floating about three feet up in the air.

Astonished, Marie turned to Ororo. "How did you know?"

Ororo simply grinned, "It's my trigger too."

**End of CHAPTER 1**

**Reviews are loved.**


	2. The Swim

**The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. This chapter is entering present time. In this fic, Rogue recently turned 18- I want her legal.**

**CHAPTER 2**

**3 Months Later**

Marie was doing backstrokes in the pool outside of the mansion. It was two in the morning and Marie was the only student outside of the mansion, let alone in the pool area.

This was the first summer that Marie was able swim outside by herself. Last summer, she had asked the professor if she could swim at night in order to avoid hurting someone with her skin. The professor had denied her request because it was too dangerous for her to go swimming alone. If something was to go wrong and she drowned, no one would be there to save her.

This summer was different, however. This summer Marie had new abilities that would ensure her safety in the water alone. When she had approached the professor last week with the same question, Charles had no choice but to allow her this. Besides, the professor knew that it would take a hell of a lot to harm her at all.

Marie had gained her independence. She had been out swimming late at night for every other night in the past week. Summer had just begun, and she was enjoying every minute of it. Granted, it was not summer break yet, so school was still in session, but she was swimming again- that was all that mattered. This was the first time she'd been swimming in years because of that stupid skin.

Marie, with the help of Professor Xavier, had managed to control all of her abilities- all except for that annoying poisonous skin. All that the poor girl wanted was an off and on switch for her skin. But now was not the time to sulk. Now was the time to swim.

In this past week, Marie has come to realize just how therapeutic swimming can be. It was the essence of relaxation for her. As she wades in the water, she lets the cool water envelope her bikini-clad body. It was a refreshing experience that put her mind at ease, if only for a short while, but it was worth it.

Marie would give anything for a moments worth of peace of mind. Since she has been swimming outside, she has been able to wear the least amount of clothes that she has in years outside of the confinements of her dorm bathroom. Marie was swimming in a simple black, string bikini. Some may say 'it is just a bathing suit, it's no big deal,' but it was a big deal. It wasn't just a bathing suit; it was Marie's freedom- freedom from her skin. Her skin was still dangerous, but when she swam in the pool in such a revealing state, she almost felt normal for once, as if her skin barred no threat.

Marie's freedom of her bathing suit has never exactly been shared with anyone else. No one ever really had the chance to see her in the little, black string bikini. Marie never had body issues; she was just never one to flaunt her God-given assets. When not inside the gate-enclosed pool, she wore a robe to get to and from the pool. She didn't mind walking around in her bikini; it was her freedom after all, but safety first, right?

There was always the potential that while walking to the pool, Marie could turn a corridor and run straight into a student who was awake in search of a midnight snack- little did they know that they would run into 'Rogue's skin of death.' No. Marie could never risk that. Her freedom would have to be restricted to the confinements of the pool for the safety of those around her.

So, Marie continued to swim in peace, enjoying the calming waters while embracing her freedom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Logan put Scott's car into park outside of the mansion. He probably should have pulled the car into the basement garage of the mansion where it belongs, but Logan felt like using the front door- it was quickest route to his room.

For almost the past week and a half, Logan had been on assignment doing recon on the Brotherhood. He was using different leads provided by the professor, in order to locate where Magneto ran off to after escaping the prison he broke out of. Charles knew that Magneto was planning something, but he could not uncover what was being planned exactly.

The Brotherhood was being quiet, too quiet. There has barely been any activity from them that warranted back up from the X-Men. Something was definitely up with them, and Logan was sent out to do some digging. After a week and a half of fruitless searching, the professor told Logan to come back to the mansion. The X-Men needed a new game plan in handling Magneto and the Brotherhood.

Logan was getting out of his car and walking towards the gates of the mansion entrance when his heightened senses picked out on something. He felt that someone was outside of the mansion. Then, he heard it. Logan heard the faint sounds of splashing. He started off towards the pool. _If I catch Pyro skinning dipping in here again with some of the other teen girls, I swear I will claw him to death._

As Logan got closer, he could see that there was only one person in the pool- one female person. The girl in the pool was swimming laps. _Why the hell would someone be swimming all by themselves at two in the fucking morning?!_

Logan finally made it to the pool entrance. Before pulling the gate open to allow himself access, Logan noticed a sign on it. The sign read 'ROGUE IS SWIMMING. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. PS- THE DEADLY SKIN IS VERY EXPOSED.' He chuckled at the sign and opened the gate. He walked straight through the entrance, heading towards one of the loungers near where Marie left her flip flops, towel, and robe. He sat down on the lounger and made himself comfortable as he waited for Marie to notice his presence.

Marie finally stopped swimming laps and immediately went to floating (water floating-not air floating) on her back in the middle of the pool. She stared up into the night's sky. The stars were shining bright as the chirping of the crickets became the background music to her serenity. That serenity was quickly ripped away from her with six simple words.

"Isn't it past your bedtime, darlin'?" The gruff voice was familiar, but startled her nevertheless because she squealed just before losing balance- sinking into the water before popping up seconds later with anger evident in her green eyes.

"Ya' couldn't have made your presence known in a way that didn't involve scaring me half ta' death?" Marie was fuming as she was now facing a grinning Logan while treading water in the pool.

"Now, where would be the fun in that?" Logan continued with the grinning and it sent Marie over the edge. She was training to be an X-Man and Logan ended up making her look like a scared little girl. No, Marie will not have any of that.

She swam up towards the side of the pool- the side near where Logan was lounging, and she splashed him with the water. "That is for trying to sneak up on me."

Logan jumped up as soon as the water touched him. _Aw, he looks like a little kitten afraid of the water. So much for the big, bad Wolverine. _She snickered at the thought.

Logan grabbed her towel to use as a shield. "Hey, that's not far. I'm not wearing a bathing suit."

Marie shrugged. "Well, too bad. Life's not fair, kid." She chuckled at his dumbfounded expression.

Mouth hanging agape, Logan managed to say, "Did you just call me 'kid'?"

"You call me 'kid' all of the time. I figured it was only just." Marie swam towards the ladder in front of Logan to get out of the pool.

Logan arched his eyebrows amused, "That is completely different because you are, in fact, a ki-" Marie grabbed onto the handled bars and walked up the ladder so she was now standing in front of Logan. Logan could not even finish his statement on account of what was standing before him.

His little Marie was standing in front of him dripping wet from head to toe. She was wearing a little, black bikini that seemed to get smaller by the second. Droplets of water appeared to dance on her toned, flat belly. Her creamy skin glowed under the moonlight. But then something very interesting caught Logan's eye; she was cold- _very_ cold.

Logan thought to himself _When the hell did she get a body? I haven't even been gone two weeks, do they really grow that fast?_

The Wolverine inside of Logan decided to speak up. _No, you idiot. Marie has always looked like that, but she's forced to hide it behind a lot of clothing. You've just been too stupid to notice. Dude, Marie is a goddess. Forget Jean, I wanna mate with her._

Logan wished he could mute the Wolverine inside of him. _I love Jean and Marie is just a kid, she's like a little sister._

Wolverine snorted _Ain't like no little sister I've ever had._

Logan sighed _Just shut up so I can think straight and not drool all over Marie. Thank you very much._

Obliviously to Logan's internal debate, Marie groaned. "Ugh, when are ya' ever gonna notice I'm not a little kid anymore? I'm old enough to vote, smoke, and legally drink in Canada."

Logan decided to take a turn in their discussion to lighten the mood and tease Marie a bit. "You cold?" He sported a sly, little grin to show he was joking about something.

Marie was frowning in confusion. "Logan, it's like eighty degrees out here why would I be-" Realization of the meaning in his words hit Marie like a ton of bricks. She looked down to see her erect nipples visible through her bathing suit. Then, she brought her gaze up to narrow her eyes at a smug-looking Logan. "I hate you."

Logan laughed. "Come on. I was just making an observation."

She glared at him. "Oh, you think this is funny, do you? It won't be very funny when I give you a big hug with all this exposed skin that might touch you."

Logan managed to control his laughter and hold out his towel to her. "I was just messin' with you, ki-Marie. I come in peace. I missed you while I was gone, darlin'."

Marie graciously accepted the piece offering and her lips quirked into a half smile. "I missed ya' too, sugah. It's never the same around here without you." Marie dried her self and then put on her robe and flip flops. Gesturing towards the exit, Marie addressed Logan. "Shall we?"

Logan placed his arm around her shoulders and began to guide them out of the pool. They passed the entrance gate, and Logan turned his head to face Rogue. "You know, I really like that nice little welcome sign you put out there. I bet people are just itching to hang out in there with you." His sarcastic statement was punctuated with a smirk.

Marie shrugged, "Only one person would be brave enough to go near my skin when it's exposed, anyway, with or without a warning sign. Lucky me that he happens to be my best friend."

The two shared a heart felt smile before heading into the mansion.

Oh, the good things that can come from a late night swim. They can even bring your best friend back from assignment.

**End of CHAPTER 2**

**Reviews are loved.**


	3. The Bad Timing

The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand

A/N: Sorry the update took so long. Lola (my laptop) crashed, so I had to arrange time with my bro's laptop. Thanks for all of the reviews.

CHAPTER 3

It was one of those nights. One of those nights when sleep was not possible. Why? You may ask. The answer was simple.

_Nightmares_

Oh, but these weren't just any nightmares. They were Logan's nightmares. The type of nightmares that could bring Stephen King to tears.

The thing is Logan wasn't the one having the nightmares. Marie was having them. It has been about a year since the two first touched, but the dreams were still as vivid as the first time she experienced them. Marie knew they were his dreams, but she never told anyone about the dreams. Even though the nightmares were severely emotionally draining, she thought it best not to let anyone know about the dreams because she didn't want Logan finding out. Logan would obviously blame himself for all of the pain that the nightmares put her through, and Marie didn't want him to feel bad. It wasn't his fault about the dreams, so why bother him?

Tonight was just like any of the other nights when the nightmares came. Marie woke up in a sweat panting heavily. Once finally calming down from the initial shock that always comes from waking up from the dreams of being tortured in a lab, Marie knew there was no chance she would be getting any sleep tonight. It was hopeless. She was too restless thinking about all of the pain that Logan had to undergo. It was only ten o'clock because Marie had even gone to sleep early tonight- around 9pm- in hopes of catching up on some much needed sleep, but she was aware that the sleep would have to wait. Marie did not want to close her eyes in fear of what she might see next.

Marie wasn't in the mood to swim, so she decided to grab a midnight snack, and then return to her dorm to do some reading. She got up from her bed to scurry around her room in her dark green, sleeveless nightgown that stopped mid-calf. She slipped on her black gloves and threw on her plush, black, satin slippers.

Marie walked quietly out of the girl dorm hallway, careful not to wake anyone that was already asleep. She descended the stairs still trying to put the nightmare past her mind, but to no avail. After passing the rec room, Marie heard a moan come from inside of the rec room that made her pause in her journey.

_Whoa! Was that what I think it was? No way is someone screwing in the rec room. Hmmm…I wonder who's in there. _Marie was brought out of her musing when she heard someone in the room speak.

"Oh, yes! Right there," groaned the feminine voice. _Oh, my god! I know that voice. It's Kitty! As in my friend and former roommate Kitty. I wonder who she's with. I bet it's John. That boy has made it his personal goal to bang every girl in this school. Except for me of course because I have poisonous skin and am happily dating his best friend. _

Kitty's voice suddenly rang out again, "Yes, Bobby! Harder."

Marie's face suddenly went pale. _There is no way I could have heard that right. Oh, god, what if I did hear that right? Okay I'll just poke my head in the room real quick to see that there is nothing to be worried about, I'm just hearing things._

Marie slowly walked backwards until she was in front of the double doors to the rec room that were slightly open. With shaky hands, she pushed one of the double doors open and looked into the room. The sight she was met with left her heart pounding in her chest.

Two naked junior X-Men were having sex on the pool table. One was her friend and the other was her boyfriend. Let's just say, Marie finally stopped thinking about her nightmare.

She silently backed away from the room, closing the door behind her. Marie absently walked towards the kitchen and began pacing.

She was completely and utterly shocked. Her emotions were pulling her in twenty different directions. She felt hurt, stunned, betrayed, and royally pissed off. Marie's head started questioning what her next move should be. _What do I do? Go back in there and yell at them? Dump Bobby? Tell Kitty to never speak to me again? Castrate Bobby? Engage in a cat fight with Kitty? Wait for them to approach me and come clean? What if this isn't the first time? How would I even go about confronting the two? _

Marie took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. _Okay…I need an outsider's opinion. Normally I would go to Kitty for advice on matters like this, so I guess I'll have to do something risky. I'm going to Logan about boy trouble. This should be…interesting._

Marie headed back up the stairs. This time she ascended two flights of stairs, making her way to the third floor where the teachers' dorms were. Once on the third floor, she made her to Logan's room that was at the end of the hallway…until a voice from behind stopped her.

"Rogue, what are you doing here?" The voice belonged to the infamous Doctor Jean Grey. Marie let a frustrated sigh escape her. She did not have time for this- she was in desperate need of advice, and Jean was now keeping her from regaining her sanity. Although Marie would hate to admit it, she _really_ needed Logan right now.

Marie turned her body to face Jean, "I'm goin' to Logan's room. I really need to talk to him right now."

Jean looked disapprovingly, "You really should not be here, it's inappropriate." She stood in front of Marie with her hip popped out, arms crossed over her chest, and her head held high.

Marie's face contorted to confusion. "Inappropriate? What are you talking about?"

Jean defiantly raised an eyebrow. "I'm talking about a student walking to their teacher's bedroom, not to mention in their night clothes and after curfew."

Marie thought _Okay I'm definitely at a loss for words. Everyone knows Logan and I are really tight, which began before he started 'teaching.' Alright, Marie, get past the confusion and start making words because she looks like she expects retaliation and you sure as hell better give her some._

Marie mimicked Jean's posture- hip popped out, arms crossed over her chest, and her head held high. "Jean, you do realize I've been to his room several times and he comes to mine a lot? The professor knows, Scott knows, 'Ro knows. And guess what? They all don't care. They also know that Logan is my very close friend, and right now I really need to talk to him about something important."

Ororo heard the arguing from her room and stepped out to see what the fuss was about. She was unnoticed by the two occupants in the hallway.

Jean sensed the hurt that was projecting from Marie, but didn't let up on her sternness. "It doesn't matter if they don't care. It is still wrong for you to go into your teacher's room. You shouldn't even be as close of friends as you are with him- he's at least twice your age. Besides, it's not exactly a friendship, more like he feels obliged to take care of you. I don't care what your problem is right now, but you can talk about it _tomorrow_ with a friend that is a _student_ during the _daytime._"

Marie's eyes welled up with tears at her words. She wordlessly ran towards the stairs in an attempt to not let Jean see her cry.

Ororo made her presence known with a sarcastic, "Nice going, Jean," before running after Marie.

Jean instantly felt shame as she realized that Ororo has overheard every rude and condescending word that she had spoken. For a telepath, not very bright.

Ororo ran down the steps, hot on Marie's tail. "Hey, Rogue. Wait up!"

At the sound of Ororo's voice, Marie came to a halt and turned to face a nearly breathless weather goddess appearing right behind her.

"Jean didn't mean any of that. She's probably just PMSing or something. Just don't listen to her, Rogue. I'm sorry she was such an uberbitch back there." Ororo gave Marie a weak smile.

Marie coughed uncomfortably. "Oh, you heard all that?"

Ororo chuckled slightly, "Well, it was kind of hard not to. But, hey! If you still need to talk about whatever took you towards Logan's room in the first place, I'm all ears. I may not speak as eloquent as the Wolverine, but I can still give great advice."

Marie laughed at the Wolverine joke. She pondered Ororo's proposal- _Hmm. We never really talked about anything personal before. Mine and 'Ro's relationship has always simply been mutation, missions, _

_and school work. She is a girl though, giving her the upper hand over Logan for this issue. Okay, yeah. I think she will be better at helping out with this._

Marie nodded her head, "Sure, 'Ro. That'd be great. But can we go someplace a little more private? I don't think the stairwell is the best place for this."

Happy that Marie took her up on her offer, Ororo led the way down the stairs. "No problem. We can use my classroom to talk in."

The two went down the stairs instantly making a right. They ventured down the hallway passing two classrooms before making it to Ororo's class. The women stepped inside and pulled out some chairs to sit on and positioned the seats in the middle of the room to face each other.

Ororo was the first to break the silence. "So, Rogue. What's on your mind?"

_Okay, I might as well just put it _all_ out there. No need to sugarcoat it, _Marie thought. "I caught my friend and my boyfriend having sex like ten minutes ago, and I have no idea what to do about it."

Ororo was taken back by the statement. "Really?" At Marie's nod, she continued to speak. "I thought you and Bobby were close."

Marie muttered, "That makes two of us." More clearly she spoke, "Now I'm stuck at a crossroads. I know I have to confront them about this, but I don't know how. When I found them tonight, I didn't say anything and I didn't let them see me because if I were to deal with this right now, I would end up doing some bodily harm on them both. I understand his need to be with someone who can touch- that's not an inadequate girlfriend like me, but he could have at least had the decency to dump me and stop acting like everything between us is perfect. I did not see this coming at all. I mean, how stupid could I possibly be? What's worse is that I trusted Kitty too, she was always so nice to me, but now I don't think I'll ever look at her the same again." By the time she stopped speaking, Marie's eyes were red and watery.

Ororo put a comforting hand on Marie's shoulder. "Just because you can't have skin-to-skin contact, does not mean that you are an inadequate girlfriend. You're sweet, smart, funny and full of love- that's what really matters. You cannot blame yourself for their mistakes, there's nothing you could have done. If you never saw this coming, it's because Kitty and Bobby didn't let you see this coming. And if you want my opinion on how to confront this, I would wait until tomorrow night and I would confront them both. So tomorrow during the day, if he confesses to you what he did with Kitty, then the affair was a first time thing and he regrets it immensely. If he acts all nervous and paranoid, then it was probably a first time thing, but he doesn't regret it that much. If he acts as usual with you, then it's safe to assume that this wasn't the first time and he has no regrets about it. How does that sound?"

"That's a great idea; it'll like give me a rating on how much I should hate him." The two laughed good-heartedly. "Thanks, 'Ro for everything. It's probably best that I didn't go to Logan- I bet he wouldn't have given any advice at all, he woulda jus' gone to skewer Bobby."

Ororo chuckled thinking _Yup, he definitely would have_. She went completely serious before speaking again, "You know what Jean said in the hallway isn't true, right? Logan likes hanging out with you. And Logan is a lot older than everyone here- not just you. Besides I think that you two are good for each other. You can bring out the sweetness in him and he brings out the confidence in you. And it's not just me saying that- the other adults think so too, except for Jean apparently."

Marie looked down at her hands. "Maybe she is right. She is the telepath after all, not to mention the woman that Logan happens to be in love with."

Ororo's face became stern, "Rogue, look at me." Marie lifted her head to meet Ororo's gaze. "If Logan were to ever hear what Jean said to you back there, his love for her would be gone in a second. Don't you ever doubt that. He may be your best friend, but you need to remember that you're his best friend. And what is that saying? Oh, right. 'Bros before hoes.'"

Marie burst out into laughter. "Oh, my gawd. Ah cannot believe you jus' said that. What happened to the well-mannered, eloquent teacher?"

Ororo smirked. "She gets bored ever now and then."

After finally calming down, Marie said, "Okay, I'll take everything you said to heart. This has been really helpful. Thank you so much." They both stood up and started walking towards the door.

"I'm just glad I can help. This has been fun. We should do this again sometime, but you know without a crisis." Ororo opened the door for Marie to walk out.

"Definitely, I'd really like that." Marie walked out of the classroom to run straight into a brick wall. Okay, so it was a person she ran into, but it felt like a brick wall. Marie looked up to see none other than Logan. "Hey, Logan what are you doin' down here?"

Ororo decided this was a good time to leave them with some privacy. "Good night, you two." She smiled at them both before heading up to her bedroom.

"I was looking for you. What are you doin' down here, and past curfew no less? Didn't classes kind of end around three?" Logan raised his eyebrows in a challenge.

"Well, you know me just can't get enough learning. Ah love me some education." Marie smirked at her own dumb reply. "Why were you looking for me?"

"I was in the danger room a little bit ago and when I went up to my room I could smell you in the teachers' hallways. I figured you were tryin' to find me. So, was there anything you needed?"

Just then Jean's words began to ring out through Marie's head. _Besides, it's not exactly a friendship, more like he feels obliged to take care of you._ Marie smiled graciously up at Logan in attempts to hide her pain. "Nope, I didn't need anything. Ah was jus' lookin' for 'Ro, Ah needed to tell her somethin'."

"Alright, kid. But if you did need something', don't hesitate to ask. You know us good-lookin' muties gotta stick together." Logan smirked at Marie, and gave her that sexy one-eyebrow raise that can melt any girl's heart.

Marie felt butterflies in her stomach at his words, but as quickly as they came, they disappeared. She wouldn't even know she had felt them. The butterflies were quickly replaced by her usual sass. "'Us good-lookin' muties?' I don't know what you're sayin', but there's only one good-lookin' mutie here." She circled Logan and rose up on her toes to whisper in his ear, "And I'll give you a hint, it's not you." With that she ran off towards the stairs giggling.

Logan ran after her with a smile on his face. "Darlin' you're gonna regret sayin' that."

End of CHAPTER THREE

Reviews are loved.


	4. The Plan

The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews. I got Lola (my laptop) back today. We've been apart for four weeks now- so in celebration of her return, here is chapter 4. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 4

Her new powers were intriguing to Magneto, but potentially harmful to him as well. Her deadly skin can still temporarily absorb powers from mutants and suck the life force out both humans and mutants alike. But now, her skin was much thicker- she was nearly invulnerable because of it, and she now has incredible super-strength and the ability to fly. Magneto wanted her as his own, if she were to join the Brotherhood, the two of them could lead the Brotherhood in wiping the humans off the face of the earth- and then they could live in a mutant dominated world. Magneto could rule that world with her by his side. She was simply perfect to him. There was only one problem in his master plan.

X-Men.

She was one of them, one of those do-gooder mutants. Despite all of her poor experiences with the corrupted human race, she still cared for all humanity and was willing to protect them. Her affiliation with the X-Men has harnessed all of the good in her to be directed to a common cause, that cause being to protect the innocent- whether the innocent involved humans or mutants.

This affiliation has gained her new friends that would interfere with any tricks that Magneto may have in bringing, or rather forcing her to the dark side. Those friends being the always father-like figure Charles Xavier, his cinnamon-head ex-student Dr. Jean Grey, the one-eyed boy wonder Scott Summers, the weather goddess Ororo Munroe, the popsicle of a boyfriend Bobby Drake, and even the giant, fuzzy smurf Hank McCoy.

But those friends don't even compare to Rogue's best friend.

The Wolverine.

If anyone or anything would try to harm poor little Rogue, you bet your ass that the Wolverine will come out of Logan and it will rip apart and destroy everything in order to ensure her safety. Logan and Rogue have a history- a long one full of friendship. They were so alike without realizing it. They trusted each other from the start, but couldn't understand why. They let each other in their hearts without a second thought. They were best friends in every entity of the meaning. She was _his_ best friend, and you NEVER take or harm anything that belongs to Logan because then the claws come out with the Wolverine following behind. When the Wolverine is mad, he gets _pissed._

So to get Rogue on his side, Magneto thought through many different courses of action. He considered reasoning with her- explaining how his plan was for the greater good, how humans cannot be trusted, but that she could trust him. That plan was quickly discarded on a count of he did kill her before, so she would probably never trust him. But what truly angered her about the Liberty Island 'situation' was how 

she was pulled back from the brink of death. The process nearly killed her beloved Wolverine. No, Rogue would never trust Magneto after the damage he caused.

Magneto sorted through the many ways to get to Rogue, to make her understand. Due to her plentiful physical capabilities, he knew it was it extremely unlikely to get Rogue to do anything against her will. And then he finally formulated a plan.

To understand how he can get her to align with him, he must first understand her.

He must learn her likes, her dislikes, her hidden desires, her world views, her deepest emotions, and her entire outlook on life.

Sure, Magneto has a few telepaths working for him in the Brotherhood, but they weren't coming up with anything exciting. Magneto had his telepaths sent out on a mission to get close to Rogue and look into the depths of her mind. They studied on the surface of her mind, and looked deep into the pits of her subconscious. Every finding was carefully recorded for Magneto to study himself.

So now Magneto sits at the desk in his covert locale for the Brotherhood in a before-abandoned building studying all of the findings that his telepaths collected a few nights ago.

He threw the files down onto the desk in frustration, "This is worthless, nothing sticks out specifically that I hadn't already known." He growled through clenched teeth.

Mystique slipped into the room unnoticed, and startled him as she spoke. "Now, now we can't have you losing your temper." She reprimanded Magneto as if he was a child doing wrong.

Magneto bitterly replied, "Everything here we already know. She loves her boyfriend the Ice Cube, she is in pain for not being able to touch anyone, she has a special bond with Claw Boy, she loves Charles like a father, she had a tragic childhood with parents that did not understand her, Ororo has been a helpful mentor for the X-Men, and she is not too fond of Jean- which I find quite entertaining by the way. But this is all useless. Anyone who has ever met Rogue is very aware of this. There must be some sort of weakness in her psyche that we can use against her." Magneto sighed and rubbed his temples. He has been through all of this information for at least twelve hours straight searching for a weak link inside of Rogue's mind that is not so common for a teenage girl mutant.

Mystique noted his out-of-character desperation and decided to drop the sarcastic remarks (just for a little while), and she began to pick up some of the files to help him out.

After about twenty minutes of the two silently researching together, Mystique noticed something unusual and broke the silence in the room with hope evident in her voice. "Wait… What is this?" Mystique points to a note at the end of one of the telepath's observations. She reads the note aloud when Magneto does not react to her find. "One of the telepaths wrote 'target is hiding deep emotions from her mind. Possible emotions are radiating a deep sadness in the depths of her subconscious.' What is that supposed to mean? It's not very elaborate." Mystique peered over the paper in her hand to see Magneto in her view; she looked at him expectantly, waiting on the answer.

Magneto quickly obliged under her scrutiny, "That was a note written from my strongest telepath Alex. Alex explained that one to me, she herself found the discovery to be quite intriguing. Alex said that there was a large portion of Rogue's subconscious that could not be read, but that portion radiated some sort of strong sadness and depression- possibly a result of heartbreak."

"Why couldn't one of the most powerful mind readers tell what that part of Rogue's subconscious was thinking?" Mystique was in awe by the incompetence of her fellow Brotherhood mutant.

"Alex could not read it because Rogue could not read it." Magneto answered as if it was the most simple thing to understand.

On the other hand, Mystique was not easily convinced. "What do you mean Rogue couldn't read it? It was in her head, it was what Rogue was thinking. And why the hell am I the only one baffled by this situation?" The more Magneto talked, the more confused Mystique was. And the more confused Mystique got, the more frustrated she would become.

"Alex said it is extremely rare, but it has been known to happen. It was in fact the first mind Alex read that was complex enough to do so. It's as if Rogue is constantly going through something so dreadful that she manipulates her mind to not think about it, but there are still traces of the pain left in her mind- there's just no way for the telepaths to track what the root of her pain is." Magneto appeared discouraged yet again.

"Don't you think that this could be just what we're looking for? Clearly she has more of a complexity to her mind than any of us could have imagined. If we can discover where Rogue gets this constant stream of pain, we can truly understands who she is, which would make us know her better than she knows herself because her mind neglects to look into this pain she feels. Even better if we were to stop the pain, then she may listen to your reasoning of why she must join the Brotherhood. We _must_ discover what this constant pain is." Mystique was so full of determination that Magneto felt sad to disappoint her.

"Alex and I both agreed that the pain is probably of her constantly reliving the pain of her separation from her parents, or something to that nature. We cannot truly be sure of what the cause is and we will never know because the pain is untraceable to my mind readers. Whatever sadness Rogue is always feeling will probably always be trapped deep inside of her soul for no one to see." Magneto let out a sigh of hopelessness and leaned back in his chair with his hands resting behind his head.

Something about Magneto's last statement struck a familiar chord with Mystique. With her elbow leaning on the desk, she rested her chin in her hand thinking long and hard about what was just said. "Her soul…her soul! That's it! We need to stop looking in her mind for the root of Rogue's misery, but instead look into her soul." Mystique was excited with her newfound epiphany, she hadn't noticed that the revelation was lost on Magneto completely.

"What on earth are you going on about? The soul knows no different from the mind. Her soul consists of her inner feelings, which can be found in her subconscious. And you can't actually look into someone's soul." Magneto stunned by the stupidity of it all.

Mystique, however, saw things much differently. "The soul and the mind are two entirely different entities. This unread portion of Rogue's subconscious may originate in her soul, but Rogue uses all of her strength to never think about this pain that by the time the emotions reach her mind, all that is left are small traces of sadness and heartache. The only place Rogue reads these strong emotions is in her soul, which means that Rogue's soul is the only possible place we could reach into and discover the truth from."

"Be that as it may, we still need a way to look into Rogue's soul, and I'm pretty sure that my telepaths won't do."

"That's your problem, boss. You keep thinking about mind readers when you should really be thinking about a soul reader." Mystique smirked at her newly formed plan.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Mystique dear, but I've never heard of a soul reader." Magneto frowned at his friend.

"Well, that would be because there is only one that exists, and she is very private. I happen to be one of the few that are even aware of her existence."

"And you've never mentioned anything concerning this magical soul reader of yours before because…?" Magneto's agitation seeped through each syllable he breathed.

Mystique, of course, remained unfazed by his obvious frustration. "Now, you see, my dear boss, we've never truly needed her until now. I should warn you that it will take much to convince her to do this, she will want something big in return. You will have to be willing to give anything."

Magneto understood how mutant favors went and just nodded in response. "Now that we have a plan to work off of, I will need you to contact this friend immediately."

Mystique picked up the phone from his office desk, and dialed. After talking and bargaining with the woman on the other line for some ten minutes, Mystique turned to Magneto and stated, "She won't go for anything less than ten million."

Magneto quickly replied. "Done."

Magneto smiled at Mystique. Everything was falling into place perfectly. The next step was to open Pandora's box.

Hmm….Doesn't that sound like fun? No possible bad could come from that…right?

End of CHAPTER 4

Reviews are loved!


	5. The Infidelity

**The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand**

**A/N: I am beyond Sorry for the late update- there was some serious writer's block going on with this chap, I kept adding a little then getting stuck, and then adding a little more- it was a pain (I think it turned out ok though). I have one more chapter after this and then the next three chapters should come quickly following this one because they're already written. Thanks for the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Marvel does. I also don't get the point of disclaimers. I mean, clearly no one on owns anything. Why would they be writing here if they did?**

**CHAPTER 5**

Marie did not sleep well. How could she, when all she could think about were Logan's nightmares, her cheating boyfriend, and that bitchy red-head? Despite all of the drama, she began to prepare for the day ahead of her. Marie was going to take Ororo's advice of putting on a façade of acting as if everything was normal between herself, Bobby, and Kitty… well, at least for today. But tonight, no matter how either one of them reacts around her; Marie is going to dump Bobby. Even if Bobby were to immediately come clean about all that he did with Kitty last night and be really sorry about it, nothing would be able to erase what he did. Her boyfriend cheated on her with a close friend of hers. There is no coming back from that.

Marie went to the bathroom and came back into her room to get dressed. She stripped from her nightgown to pull on dark-wash blue jeans that she button and zipped. Then, she put her arms through a black, cotton demi bra that matched her panties, and hooked the back clasp. Marie pulled a simple black, tight, long-sleeved tee over her head. The top's neckline had a v-cut that showed just a hint of cleavage; the kind of cleavage that will grab the attention of a man and leave him wanting more. She headed back into the bathroom of her dorm to brush her teeth.

She then brushed her hair out and pulled it back into a high ponytail, leaving the white streaks out to fall behind her ears. Marie added a little bit of dark brown eyeliner underneath her eyes and some strawberry chapstick to her lips. She's never really been one to put on lots of makeup. Marie exited her bathroom in search of socks and boots. Once the items were in her possession, she went to sit on her bed to put her socks on, then got into her high-heeled, black leather booties and zipped them up. Standing up, she snatched her black, satin, wrist-length gloves off of her nightstand and slipped them onto her delicate hands. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Marie exited her dorm and headed towards the staircase. It was time for breakfast.

Walking into the mess hall, she headed straight towards her usual table that was already occupied by Bobby who was saving a seat for her. She approached the table with her heart hammering in her chest.

When Bobby noticed her arrival, he stood up, grabbed her gloved hand and kissed the back of it as he does every morning. "Good morning, beautiful. How'd you sleep last night?"

The sweet words rolled off his tongue with such ease that Marie wanted to punch his face the way Logan had taught her to ensure a broken nose off her opponent. Although, given her new found strength, she could make his head shatter to pieces without much effort. Somehow she thought the Professor might disapprove of that idea.

"I slept like a baby." She lied through her teeth without missing a beat.

He smiled his simple charm smile as if he hadn't a care in the world. "Well then, baby, let's get us both somethin' to eat."

"Sounds good." They walked hand-in-hand to the buffet table. Marie swallowed down her unease as she tried to appear part of the nauseatingly happy couple that they were known as around the mansion. She really had to rein in her acting skills, there was no way she would tip him off that something was amiss.

Heading back to the table with their food, they saw Kitty and John already sitting down munching on muffins and cereal. Marie had to literally shake her head and close her eyes for a few moments to stop herself from glaring daggers at Kitty.

Bobby noticed her strange movement and looked at her with concern. "Are you alright, Rogue?"

She smiled sweetly and looked him in the eyes. "Of course. What could be wrong? I'm with you, aren't I?"

He showed her a toothy grin clearly pleased with his effect on her. Marie smirked inwardly; she was playing him so badly and he didn't even know it. They sat down at the table with their food. Marie greeted John and Kitty. "Hey, John, Kit. Mornin'."

Kitty mumbled a similar greeting barely awake.

John huffed. "How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Pyro now."

Marie snorted mocking his words, "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm only calling you that on missions and during X-Men training. That's the whole purpose of codenames."

John frowned. "But we have to call you Rogue all of the time."

She laughed, "That's because y'all don't know anything else to call me. Maybe you shouldn't have told other people your name."

He developed a small pout on his lips looking like a child. "I didn't know what codename to use when I first arrived; I wanted something original."

"Yeah because I'm sure the fire-using mutant really had to think long and hard about the name Pyro," Marie remarked sarcastically.

Before John could continue to whine about his clever codename, Bobby cut in. "I hate to break up the love fest, but we should hurry up and eat before classes start." With one final glare to each other, Marie and John went back to eating their breakfast. Bobby looked on amused by the constant banter that always goes on between John and Rogue.

As their breakfast time was dwindling to an end, John noticed how Kitty's eyes kept drooping shut. "Hey, Kitty Kat, you look like you had a late night last night."

Marie had noticed this as well, but didn't want to be the one to bring it up. She didn't want to appear too suspicious. Now that good ol' John brought it up, she might as well comment.

"Yeah. As much as it pains me to say, John is right. You look majorly tired," Marie said looking at Kitty.

Stifling a yawn, Kitty smiled at their concern. "Oh, I was just up late last night studying for Mr. Summer's Calc test. I swear that man must have been a slave driver in another life. It feels like we have a test in that class like every other day."

Her lie came out so smoothly that to any other observer; they wouldn't have noticed anything strange about that statement. Marie, unfortunately, had an up-close view on what really kept Kitty up late last night.

Hiding her disgust, she joked with Kitty. "Only every other day?" They all laughed at Scott's ridiculous teaching methods.

The school day moved on much the same. Kitty and Bobby acted completely normal as if nothing was out of the ordinary and it was driving Marie insane. She knew enough at this point that she could go and confront the two, but she was too mad. Right now, all she really wanted was hit things and rant about how guys are total jerks and girl friends are just fake. Marie left her last class, Ancient and Medieval History, with one destination: The Danger Room.

Walking at a brisk pace, she traveled through the ground level looking straight ahead not taking in her surroundings at all. She was walking through a ground level hallway when a voice finally distracted her from her goal.

"Hey, kid. Keep glaring daggers like that and the next power you get will be shooting lasers out of your eyes. Oh! You'd be like Scooter, ughhh…" Logan gave an exaggerated shiver to illustrate how much he didn't want anymore Scotts in this world.

Marie let out a frustrated sigh. All she wanted to do was kill some simulated mutants, and now Logan was literally getting in her way of that. "What do you want?"

"Geez what's got your panties in a twist?" He asked amused with the random hostility.

She shrugged and pulled out the female card. This is the excuse women use in times they don't want to talk because it makes any normal guy drop the subject immediately. "I'm on my period and have a general hatred for the male gender since they never have to suffer through these cramps and bloating."

Logan smiled at her. "No you're not, I would know." He tapped his nose feeling smug. It's a shame Marie forgot that Logan is not just any normal guy for a second there.

"God, you're gross." She said with an appalled grimace.

"What? Your female stuff is part of nature and all that. Besides don't act innocent. I know you're trying to distract me. I'm more perceptive to human emotions than you think." She gave him a doubtful look, and he corrected himself. "Okay, I'm perceptive to your emotions."

She gave a ghost of a smile at that. It was true. Had Scott, Hank, or 'Ro been pissed off, Logan wouldn't have cared enough to notice…But he probably would have noticed if Jean was mad. With that thought, the almost smile fell from her face.

Marie cleared her throat. "What are you doing down here anyway? We finished training like an hour ago."

Just as Logan was opening his mouth to speak, the doors to the med bay opened with a whooshing sound and in walked Dr. Jean Grey. She held such power and beauty in her walk that she was intimidating to watch. Marie looked at her from bottom to top, starting with the black stiletto, open-toed shoes to the black pencil skirt that cut off just below the knee to the navy blue, button-up top with enough buttons left undone to make Marie's cleavage display appear minimal, and ending with the French twist of her auburn hair. Even after a day's work, not a stray hair was out of place.

Jean walked the ten paces to meet up with Logan and Marie. She addressed Logan with a gleaming smile on her face. "I was wondering where you disappeared to."

Marie rolled her eyes. Great! To answer her question Logan was in the med bay for the past hour flirting with Jean while she basked in the attention. Isn't Jean supposed to be working on something? She does have jobs to do in the med bay when she's not teaching classes.

Logan was pleased that Jean noticed he stepped out. "Well, I smelled a stray and decided to check it out," he replied nodding his head towards Marie.

"I just wanted to see if you were nearby. I was very lonely after my favorite patient just vanished, and without getting the 'all clear' from your doctor. Shame on you." Jean was solely focused on Logan, ignoring the fact that they had a third party, in the form of a young woman she verbally bashed the previous night.

Marie snorted. "Logan? Logan, the mutant with the healing ability, is your patient? What for? Are you saving him from foot in mouth disease? You know, that would be nice. Sometimes you don't think before you speak, Logan."

"It's doctor/patient confidentiality," Jean replied off-handedly still focused on Logan.

Logan seemed not to pay attention to Marie's interruption at all while staring at Jean. "So you missed me in there. I'm touched." His voice took on that husky quality that came when the flirting began.

While the two senior X-Men stared at each other with matching grins, Maries was staring at the engagement ring on Jean's finger. It was so small, but held such a large meaning. The ring was a promise to love Scott and only Scott for the rest of her life; she was spoken for. In accepting the ring, Jean accepted the promise. But looking at Jean's face now, Maries knew that promises and sweet words of love weren't enough to keep her from wanting to rip off Logan's clothes at any second. Claims of love clearly weren't enough to keep Bobby from having a sordid affair with her only girlfriend in the mansion. It just wasn't fair that good people were getting treated like crap by people they loved. Her anger was escalating by the second, until she half groaned, half yelled, "What is up with all the infidelity?!"

She snapped her mouth shut eyes wide. That thought was supposed to stay in her head, not reverberate through the hallway. Looking to the adults to see their reaction, she noticed they were still locked in a staring contest smiling. Has she all of a sudden become not only invisible, but nonexistent to the world?

Marie slapped her forehead, and internally groaned at how dumb those two were while she turned on her heel getting back on track. To the Danger Room.

While walking away, she heard Logan's voice float towards her talking to Jean, "Did you hear something?"

She rolled her eyes and quickened her step.

**End of CHAPTER 5**

**Reviews are loved.**


	6. The Ass Kicking

**The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand**

**A/N: There is no excuse for my lateness. I am terribly sorry and I will be starting up the next chapter right now. Thanks for the reviews. I warn you all that I've never written out any action sequency things before so lets all cross our fingers and hope for the best.**

**Disclaimer: All I own are the X-Men movie DVDs *tear tear.***

**CHAPTER 6**

"Stupid, stupid men," Marie ranted to herself while kicking Toad into a brick wall of an abandoned warehouse. The force of impact caused the walls to shake with dust falling from the walls and ceiling as well as a few cracks in the wall. Toad was knocked out to say the least.

"First, I have a stupid cheating boyfriend that acts stupidly charming, even though I know he's screwin' another girl." She jumped up in the air to dodge a snarling feral mutant. Landing behind Sabertooth, Marie jumped on his back and snapped his neck. She knew it would only slow him down and not kill him; his healing mutation would fix him up in a couple minutes.

"Ugh, and my stupid best friend." Marie's voice dropped low for a horrible imitation of Logan." '_I'm perceptive to your emotions._'" She gave a dry laugh as she began pummeling Toad now that he came to. "Yeah, perceptive to my emotions until some skanky, red-headed doc comes just a-waltzin' on by. Once precious Jeannie appears, not only does Logan forget Ah posses such trivial things such as emotions but he forgets that Ah exist entirely."

A beaten and bloodied Toad looked up at Marie between her punches to ask in his English accent, "It's bad enough that I 'ave ta be nearly beaten to death by you, do I really need to listen to all this soddin' pathetic teenage drama of yours?"

With a yell of fury, she kicked him in the balls ignoring his cry of pain. Normally, Marie never took the low blows like that, but she was at the end of her ropes and he was pushing her buttons.

"See? All of you men are the same. Expect for the professor," she mused. "But really, he's more like a god among men."

Marie was having a bit of a breakdown to say the least and she decided to take it out on simulated evil mutants. Before, she just wanted to let off some steam, but the running into Logan in Jean in the hall left her at a whole new level of pissed off. Logan was so annoyingly persistent in the hall trying to find out what was wrong with her at first; then Jean makes her appearance and he could care less what the issue was. Christ! She could've been bleeding to death on the floor screaming his name for help, and the big brute still would not have remembered she was even in the same universe let alone the same room.

'Bros before hoes'? Marie scoffed at the idea now. Last night, she really did believe Ororo's words, but now she's not so sure. Maybe Jean was right in saying Marie and Logan didn't exactly have a friendship, it was more like he feels obliged to take care of her. Whether Jean was right or wrong probably wouldn't matter to Logan if he heard such words. He'd most likely nod his head in agreement while staring at Jean with lust-filled eyes, and receive enough of his bearing before muttering a 'Rogue who?'.

At the sound of bones cracking from behind her, Marie turned away from a whining Toad to see Sabertooth snap his head back in place. She ran at the hairy beast and tackled him to the ground before he could regroup enough to attack first. Sabertooth clawed at the freakishly strong young woman straddling his middle with his long black talons, but that only seemed to cut up her X-Men practice uniform. Her thick skin prevented any damage from being done.

He snarled and growled in frustration for not being able to leave a mark, but she gave as good as she got with a few growls of her own punching his face in retaliation for ruining yet another one of her uniforms. Sabertooth's eyes widened in shock; Marie's growls were just as animalistic as his own. All of her fighting was fueled by her inner turmoil.

My god! Was it just impossible for her to be number one priority to anyone? She and Bobby had an understanding that they both believed in bros before hoes, placing Marie at about number six on his priority list. Bobby was number three on her list; Logan and Kitty were really the only friends she had at the school. Being her best friend, Logan was always her number one priority. Do not let there be any confusion, she may hang out with John a lot, but they were NOT friends. She hung out with him for Bobby's sake; John's pretty much a giant pest.

If the display in the hall was anything to go by, her good friend Logan was not a big believer of bros before hoes. Marie wasn't exactly sure where she landed on Logan's priority list, but the highest she could see herself at was number two. Hehe number two.

Finally, Sabertooth found a weak point and yanked Marie's ponytail back. Her punching ceased as she bent backwards by the full force of the yank and yelped in pain. Her skin may be nearly indestructible, but hair follicles happen to located beneath the skin. Bummer.

Really what did she expect? That someone in this world could possibly care about her enough that she came first in that person's life. Pffft. As if. Her own father couldn't give a rat's ass about her. He made that painfully clear as he packed her a duffle bag, handed her three hundred dollars cash, and said, "Get out."

Using Marie's tender head as a distraction, Sabertooth bucked and shoved her off of himself. Her pin on him weakened and he was taking advantage of it. Stalking towards her crumpled form a few yards away, he grinned evilly. "Alright, girly. Now it's my turn."

Sabertooth had just lifted his booted foot to kick Marie when she responded. "Like hell it is." She grabbed his leg and yanked it towards her making him crash onto his back. Standing up, she latched on to both of his legs near the knee pulling his entire body off the floor. Ignoring his roar of indignation, she spun him around in a full circle before letting go, and watched as his hulking form flew up high and crashed through several walls before completely disappearing from her sight.

Marie let out a low whistle looking towards Sabertooth's exit area. "Dag, he went far."

"You really are off your rocker, you know that? What kind of crazy git takes pleasure in watching the pain of others?"

Rolling her eyes, Marie lazily turned towards the British mutant while placing her hands on her hips. "That's real rich comin' from a Brotherhood member. Y'all have fun bringin' pain to humans all the time no matter what their mutant views are." Toad was slouching on the ground with both hands gripping his privates in fear that something might fall off.

He glared at her with his pitch black eyes. "This is a whole other type of pain and you know it. You nearly busted Jenkins, you evil wench."

Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Jenkins? Who's-?" Understanding dawned in her eyes. "You named one of them _Jenkins_? Why would-? No wait. I don't want to know. That's jus' way too gross."

Suddenly Marie's vision was incased in blackness and she couldn't breathe. Toad smirked, "That's what you get for offending Sir Jenkins."

Marie wanted to roll her eyes underneath the resin goop he shot out to cover her face. He knighted _it_ too? Lifting her hands to touch her face, she felt that the resin secretion had hardened. In one quick move, she pulled a fist back and punched the covering on her face- shattering it into many light green pieces of varied sizes.

While wiping off any remaining pieces, Marie glared at Toad. "That is so vial."

Toad smirked still in the same position on the ground. "It was well deserved."

"Yeah. Well, so is this." Marie quickly strode towards Toads in the few steps separating them and tapped on his head, effectively using her super strength to knock him out. "Bet you're not worried about Sir Jenkins now. You're welcome." She let loose a small grin happy that the slime producer stopped talking to her. The peaceful silence was quickly broken when Marie found herself in a chokehold with a voice hissing in her ear.

"Can't make a man love you so you need to beat on other guys just to get your frustrations across? That doesn't seem very fair." Gasping for breath, Marie grabbed the blue scaly arm, doubled over, and yanked the arm forward to make the body of the shape-shifting mutant roll off of her.

"And what exactly would ya know about fairness? You're the one that just attacked me from behind even though Ah've done nothing to harm ya." Marie watched as Mystique leapt back to her feet in one fluid movement.

"Honey, _I'm_ the bad guy. I don't have to be fair. You're an X-Man; don't you have a code of honor or something equally yawn-inducing." Mystique and Marie began circling each other waiting to see who would make the first move.

"Maybe Ah play by my own set of rules," snarled Marie not liking the thought that the X-Men were accused of being soft.

Mystique laughed in that condescending way of hers. "Well aren't you just a little bad ass." Mystique seemed to think something over for a moment before continuing. "How about this; I'll give you exactly what you want and we'll see whether or not that code of honor magically shows up." Her blue skin rippled and in her place stood Bobby Drake. Feeling as though she were being further taunted, Marie saw this shape-shift as the first attack and charged at the fake Bobby in retaliation. Dodging Marie's blow, Mystique began laughing through Bobby's voice. "I guess that goes to show your code of honor is gone for now. You're fighting by no rules; all you're trying to do is mend you're _wittle browken heart_." The last part was said in a baby voice. Changing gears, Mystique barked, "You're pathetic."

Marie, finding a point of attack, swooped down low and kicked Mystique's legs out from under her. The small victory did not quell her anger at all. "What would ya rather Ah do? Cry watching a bunch of chick flicks and pretending that the tears are only for the fictional characters on the screen while Ah scarf down a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream? My methods burn calories as opposed ta gaining them." Mystique's punch to Marie's face sent Marie's head jolting backward. She really could get distracted if she talked too long. Logan has yelled at her several times during their danger room sessions saying that she spend too much time conversing with the enemy when she should be "whooping some ass." Marie, however, was not at deterred by the blow and continued her rant. "Not to mention the fact that Ben & Jerry's is so expensive. Ah'd probably need a coupon of something to get some because there is no way that Ah would spend five dollars on a pint of ice cream. Really that's just ridic-"

"Would you please shut up for two seconds?" Bobby's voice thundered through simulated abandoned warehouse instantly silencing Marie. "I only mean to say that you are doing nothing about your present circumstances. Find out what you really want and eliminate whatever or whoever gets in your way." Mystique's form shifts from Bobby to Kitty to Logan to Jean. Quickly Marie grabbed Jean's hand. She had taken off one of her glove behind her back while Mystique was talking. Marie watched as Mystique fell to the ground convulsing and changing forms uncontrollably.

Looking down at the shape-shifter's body she said in a low voice with her anger barely concealed, "My code of honor only disappears when dealing with the bad guys. No matter how horrible we can act at times, the X-Men all represent something good. We are the hope when others are at the ends of their ropes. Ah sure as hell won't kill anyone that chose to train for this sort of life." She stepped over the convulsing mass and announced in a much louder voice, "Simulation Complete!"

**End of CHAPTER 6**

**Reviews are adored and cherished (and leave me little guilt-ridden reminders that I need to update)**


	7. The Tatters

**The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand**

**CHAPTER 7**

**A/N: So sorry for how long it took to update. **

The sound of the Danger Room door opening had Marie turning her head around to look at the entrance.

"What the hell are you doing in here? You just used a level ten simulation, a simulation you took on by yourself. You know that's against the rules. Have you totally and completely forgotten Danger Room Orientation or do we need to have a refresher course?" Although his eyes were hidden behind a pair a ruby red sun glasses, Marie knew that her team leader was giving her a disproving glare.

Trying to put on an innocent face with a cheerful smile, she hoped to deflect his anger by ignoring his questions and changing the subject. "Hey, Scott." She started to fully turn her body towards him. "Nice weather we're having, huh?" Okay, so it wasn't her best work, but she's had a rough day. That's a good enough reason for her not to be on her A game of lying.

Now fully facing Scott, his response to her lame question was not exactly what she expected. "Jesus Christ!" He yelled looking startled.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked curiously as she watched Scott strip himself of his baggy grey zip-up hoodie.

He quickly tossed her to the sweater, telling her to put it on.

"Why?" Marie questioned, having no clue what was up with her teacher.

Pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut behind red lens, Scott replied. "Look down at yourself."

She looked down at her body and saw her body unsurprisingly clad in her practice uniform. What was surprising was that the uniform was in pieces. With a gasp of shock, she immediately turned away from Scott and put on his sweater. The tatters of her uniform were covering the really important parts, but she was just barely being covered by the small pieces of cloth.

"Ah am so, so sorry, Mr. Summers. Ah didn't even realize what had happened." Her embarrassment caused her southern accent thicken, something that always seemed to happen when she became emotional.

"Really? It didn't feel especially breezy or anything to you?" A smile came unbidden to Scott's face.

"It's not funny!" Marie shrieked. "One wrong move and I could have just accidentally flashed my teacher."

He managed to speak between laughs. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault anyway. But how did this even happen?"

She took a moment to think and finally a vision of straddling Sabertooth came to her. "Oh, right. So, I had Sabertooth pinned to the floor-something he wasn't too happy about. He tried clawing at me to get me off of him, but I guess all he managed to do was destroy my uniform."

"Wow." Scott looked surprised. "I'm impressed. Sabertooth turned his claws on you and that was all the damage he could manage," he mused. "Maybe I overreacted a bit when I first came in. That invincible skin of yours seems to be really holding up."

"You should know how well it holds up. You were there when I fell out of the plane."

"It's just strange to think you were once this defenseless young girl on top of the Statue of Liberty at Magneto's mercy but now you could probably give that old man some real competition."

"Are you getting nostalgic on me, Mr. Summers?" Marie's face showed mock surprise.

"Maybe a little bit." Smoothly walking around the room, he questioned, "Have you ever fought at level ten before?"

"No," Marie replied guiltily.

"So today you just woke up and decided, 'Hey I wanna give Scott a heart attack. Should I take someone with me in the simulation just in case? No, I'll be even more risky. Maybe I'll be able to give him a stroke too.'"

Marie couldn't help herself, she started laughing. "Yes, that was clearly my thought process."

"I figured as much." Marie shook her head at him, smile still firmly implanted on her face. "But seriously, you need to run these things by me for approval before you go level jumping."

"I'll be sure to follow protocol next time," she relented.

"Was there any particular reason you decided to run a Danger Room session that could cause you harm in real life? Or was that just on a whim?"

"I'm trying to give you a heart attack, remember?" Marie grinned wickedly.

Scott softened his tone in one word, "Really?" It was gentle. Marie thought that word spoken repeatedly the way Scott said it could become a lullaby. She'd fall asleep in seconds.

"Have you ever had one of those days when you feel as if all of those people you care about so much—would lay down your life for—never really felt the same for you?" Marie was fiddling with the cuffs of his hoodie as she said this.

Scott nodded his head, trying to choose his words carefully. "I think a lot of us have felt that way at some point of another. Sometimes you have to have faith in what you believe to be true. Even if someone doesn't always show they care, doesn't mean they don't care. If you truly believe they care, then they must care or else why would you feel that they did?" She wondered if he was thinking of Jean as he said this.

Sniffling, she pushed a piece of hair out of her face. Logan came to the forefront of her mind. He was so attentive when they first met in the hallway, but suddenly he completely ignored her. "I could be crazy," she surmised, biting out a bitter laugh.

Marie felt a strong finger hook under chin tearing away her view of the floor. Her first instinct was to pull her skin away from his ungloved hand. As soon as she thought to do so, his hand was already gone, leaving no time for her mutation to take effect. Slowly, she tilted up her head and her watery green eyes met red lenses. "No, you're not. You're just having a bad day. Things will get better."

She squinted her eyes at him. "How do you know?" It was a fair question; he barely knew anything that was actually happening right now with her Bobby, Logan, Kitty, Jean issues.

"'Cause I know you won't let anything keep you down for long. It'll tear through your clothes but it'll never nick your skin. You're just stronger than that."

She closed her eyes to prevent any tears from falling out. Then, carefully avoided any skin contact, she lunged at Scott. He wobbled for a moment but eventually caught her hug. As they held onto each other, Marie wondered how dimwitted Jean could be to not realize what she has right in front of her.

After a few moments, Marie pulled away. "Thanks. I needed that," she said wiping at her eyes.

"Don't mention it," he waved off her gratitude.

"I'm gonna go change."

"Well, I'm going to do a level ten simulation because I have permission," Scott bragged.

"That's not fair. You don't need to get permission from anyone." Marie gave a watery laugh.

"Actually, I do. You all always seem to forget. The professor is still above me. I may be team captain but he's still the coach."

"I guess you're not as all-powerful as I thought." She smirked while backing away to the exit.

Scott chuckled as he started to stretch, "You can give me back my hoodie anytime."

"Will do…Captain." Marie saluted before exiting leaving a chuckling team leader in her wake.

Rolling her shoulders, she strolled down the hall towards the girls' locker room. She needed to change her clothes stat. Her legs were too exposed for her liking. Reaching for the door handle, she felt her body being roughly yanked back, turned around, and slammed into the wall next to the girls' locker room door. Her head slammed into the tile wall and she wasn't seeing straight at first. She felt a fairly large male body pressed against hers and hands gripping her shoulders tightly.

When her vision cleared, she was surprised to see Logan glaring down at her. "Logan? Wh-What are you doing?"

Then, he did something weird. He buried his face in his neck and started sniffing her. "Logan, be careful. You're getting really close to exposed skin there!" She started to hear and even feel the deep growl forming in the back of his throat. Logan has different types of growls. He has a roar for when he was in the heat of the battle. He has a purr for when he was excited or content. This growl he used was a warning growl; it was a warning that he was about to tear somebody apart. Clearly he wasn't happy about something. Was it her smell?

"Logan, do I smell bad or something? What's your problem?" His growl heightened when she said smell.

"Well, sorry I don't smell like roses at the moment. I just finished a Danger Room session. Now, if you don't mind, I need some breathing room." She tried shoving him away without her super strength- assuming she didn't need it. He only pushed her into the wall harder and his head lifted up. He was baring his teeth at her! His eyes were what surprised her most. They weren't his brilliant shade of hazel, but instead they looked almost entirely black. Marie then realized this wasn't Logan.

This was the Wolverine.

"Wolverine, what's wrong?" Marie lifted her hand as best she could with her shoulder being pinned to the wall and stroked his cheek.

He cocked his head acknowledging this name and resumed sniffing her. This time instead of her neck, he bent his head to sniff all around her chest. It was kind of awkward. Thankfully, there were plenty layers separating them with Scott's sweater. Wait…maybe that's it. "I smell like Scott?" He growled deep and harsh when she spoke Scott's name.

"Wolverine?" This got him to lift his head from her chest. With gloved hands she tried rubbing his shoulders to calm him down as she tried to explain. "I smell like him because I'm wearing his sweater. My clothes were torn up so he was trying to help me cover up." He didn't seem to understand so Marie reached for the zipper and pulled it down, showing him the remains of the uniform. "Scott was helping me."

She thought he understood at first until she realized he couldn't tear his eyes away from her body. Then he started purring and his eyes seemed to darken even more than before. Seeing that his upper body was closing in on hers, she tried to backing into the wall asking, "Wh-What's running through that mind of yours, Wolvie?"

He growled out, "Mine," before roughly taking possess of her lips with his own, probing her mouth with his tongue.

And then he passed out.

Marie sighed, shaking her head at her fallen friend. She figured she couldn't just leave him lying there like that.

She yelled down the hall, "Jean, your patient needs you!"

So that's taken care of. Entering the locker room, Marie headed over to her cubby hole. So that's the Wolverine everyone tries putting on a tight leash? Smiling, she thought, 'I like him…I like him a lot."

**End of CHAPTER 7**

**Reviews are entirely appreciated. **

**I hope you all enjoyed the Roguerine (Doesn't Roguerine sorta sound like a weird name for a fruit? Maybe it's just me.) hotness I threw in there.**


	8. The Rendezvous

**The Soul Feels What the Mind Can't Understand**

**A/N: All I can say is that I am sorry for the late update and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Did you think I own X-Men? 'Cause I don't. At all. But thanks for bringing up that sore subject.**

**CHAPTER 8**

"Dude, stop touching me with that nastiness."

"I'm not touching you," came the growled reply.

"You totally are!"

Magneto had to pinch the bridge of his nose. There was a reason why he could never have children. This was it. The road trips.

"Then, move over more so that I don't."

"If I move over any more, I'll be out the fucking van!"

"What do you expect me to do? Suck in the fat?"

"Have you considered lypo?"

It was then that Magneto heard the dull thud of skin hitting skin. He just knew that Fred purposely dropped part of his overly large stomach onto Dominic's body. When he felt the SUV begin to shake with a miniature quake, he decided enough was enough and turned in his seat.

Magneto spoke with an eerie calm. "Avalanche. Blob. If you two would like to see how the rest of this day will play out, I suggest that you keep those useless holes in your faces shut." With each word, the seat belts of the two back-seat passengers unbuckled and slowly began wrapping themselves around their necks. Avalanche and Blob stared at Magneto with looks of fear tinged with respect. They didn't say a word as the seatbelts tightened around their throats. "Is that understood?" The two young men nodded. Magneto first gave them a warning glance before releasing his hold on the seatbelts and facing forward. Despite the tense mood that had just fallen over the car, Magneto was feeling rather cheerful. He turned to the driver announcing, "Beautiful weather we're having today, wouldn't you say, Peeper?"

"Yes," squeaked the small creature in the driver's seat. He held a strong resemblance to Gollum from Lord of the Rings with his large eyes, frail body, and bald head.

Magneto grimaced at the thought and turned away from the mutant. "How close are we, anyway?"

"We're here." Surprised, Magneto looked out the windshield and saw that yes, they had indeed made it to there rendezvous point. As Peepers pulled the car into park, Magneto saw that the other Brotherhood SUV along with a yellow sports car were already waiting in the abandoned lot. Magneto made the first move to exit the vehicle; then, everyone else from all three automobiles followed suit. He had to smirk at that. Sometimes he really loved the power he held over people.

Casting a sideways glance over at Mystique, he had to bite back a snigger. She looked more haggard than he did from that road trip. However, she had the misfortune of having to drive that Maximoff twins. He could hear that the siblings were still bickering in whispers. He'd take Avalanche and Blob over Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch any day. They were simply easier to control. The silence that has taken over the two mutants since the brief strangling had not gone unnoticed.

Magneto looked away from his fellow Brotherhood members to appraise the foreign car before him. Inside, held the key to all of his plans. Although the brightly painted door was ajar, she had yet to exit her car. What is she waiting for? A formal invitation? Let's get a move on. Just as Magneto began to turn his eyes heavenward, a black, heeled boot hit the asphalt from behind the open door. In one languid motion, the woman rose from her car seat to a standing position behind the door. With a flick of her hand on the door, she effectively closed the car door and then began to strut towards them. Really, that was the best way to describe it. A strut.

The woman was tall, probably about 5'9" or 5'10". She had long, cascading, honey-kissed, blonde locks, an hour-glass figure, mesmerizing deep blue eyes, and creamy fair skin.

She got right down to business ignoring the pleasantries of introductions. "I hope to God your men can pull this off. I'm no fan of suicide missions."

Trying to pretend that she had not just accused him and his team of being incompetent, Magneto proceeded to engage in what type of conversation he deemed civilized. "Oh, Victoria. It's so lovely to finally meet you. I had pictured you would be charming, but this is exceeding my every expectation." Sarcasm dripped from his every word and he could practically feel Mystique was itching to slap him. This Victoria woman was quite possibly their only chance at getting Rogue and he was mocking her manners.

Before Magneto could make an even bigger mess of things, Mystique quickly approached the soul reader to shake hands. "It's nice to see you, Vikki. Thank you for doing this on such short notice."

Vikki nodded to Mystique as a reply and turned to Magneto. "I hope it's safe to say that the money is being wired to the Kaman account as we speak?"

Magneto smirked at her suspicion and replied, "Of course, Victoria. Call to check that it's there if you'd like." Vikki whipped out her cellular phone and made the call. He couldn't say he was surprised by her actions but he was loath to admit that it did sting. Not that he aspired to be trustworthy or anything. He just didn't want people assuming he was cheap. He was running a quality operation here, damn it! Those SUV's they just came out of were Lincolns.

After being on the phone for less than a minute, Vikki turned back to Magneto, "Everything seems to be in order. Now, we must review or course of action. So you and your little mutant buddies break us into the school. Then, they isolate us in whatever room we can get Rogue in so no one comes in and no one comes out and…what happens if some of the teachers try to prevent us from making the read?"

"Well, that is another reason why my 'little mutant buddies' are here." The words "little mutant buddies" seemed to leave a foul taste in his mouth. He couldn't spit it out fast enough. "They are all here to detain any teachers or students that may try to get in our way. And I will use one of the teachers, Logan, as a hostage because he has metal running through his body. The X-Dweebs will not risk getting Logan killed if we are not even there to hurt Rogue or the others in the school."

Vikki nodded in understanding, aware of Magneto's powers. "And you're sure? You're not there to hurt any of them, not even a little?"

Magneto released a tired sigh. "We do not harm our own kind. The only times we get into scrapes with the X-Men are when the X-Men stand between us and something we want. As long as they let the reading happen, they'll be safe." As an afterthought he adds, "Except for Logan of course. But we must use someone as an example."

"Right. Now, you must follow my instructions carefully about the soul-reading portion. Since you want to ask her soul the questions yourself, I must be the connection between you two- your vessel. It will require much focus. I will be focusing on drawing out the girl's soul, and you will need one hand on my pendant while the other holds back this Logan. The pendant connects you to me while I connect you to her soul."

Looking down at her chest, Magneto could see the pendant she was talking about. She was wearing a necklace that had a large blue stone pendent that matched the color of her compelling eyes perfectly. "That pendant?" he asked pointing to her chest.

An exasperated "yes" was all he received in reply.

"Got it. What exactly will occur as you draw out her soul? Will I ask the questions, but only you can hear the answers?"

Vikki shook her head. "No. I'm arranging it so that Rogue is physically answering the questions herself. However, she will never remember this Q&A session ever happening. By the way, do not be alarmed if you see anything," she paused as she searched for the right word, "peculiar occur during the reading. While it may seem unusual or unsettling to all of you, I can assure you that it will all be perfectly normal."

Magneto was a bit apprehensive and replied. "…Okay." He turned his head to survey his quiet, obedient little soldiers. They could do this, he convinced himself. They could get into the school and be intimidating enough to convince Charles that the reading must occur. It was for the good of mutantkind, really. Magneto looked at the time on his watch before glancing back up and looking at Vikki. "I think it's about time for you to earn your paycheck." He extended his hand to her.

Grinning with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she accepted his hand. "Lead the way."

**End of CHAPTER 8**

**For those of you who have been wondering, my rough guess would be that her soul will be opened up in Chapter 10. Also, reviews are **_**loved**_**!**


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